Gettysburg NMP

Soldier's National Monument in the cemetery

Last year after visiting the Fredericksburg & Spotsylvania NMP battlefields, I decided we needed to visit Gettysburg NMP in the near future. The battles around Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania were at the beginning of May, 1863 and some of the troops who fought there then headed north to fight at Gettysburg, which occurred over three days at the beginning of July, 1863.

headstones in the National Cemetery

We decided to go in the fall, but weren't able to go until just this past week. We'd originally planned to go the week before, but I'd gotten mixed up on the date of the Montpelier field trip, and we had to switch it.

Each Union state that had soldiers who fought and died at Gettysburg has a section in the cemetery. The headstones are arranged in a semi-circle around the Soldier's National Monument that you can see at the top of this post. Not all who died here are buried here, just a representative number.

Going off season was great, but when we return (and we will since we didn't get to see it all) it won't be so late in the season. I think if we'd gone when we'd originally planned, we'd have been fine, but the last week of October in Pennsylvania was cold and windy.

The park itself is free to enter, but several of the tours cost money, as do the cds for the audio auto tour. We only made it part way through the auto tour, so when we go back we'll finish it.

some of the cannons had rifled bores (left) for increased distance and accuracy, others did not (right)

We also did the Junior Ranger program, but didn't have time to do any of the other tours. I didn't have time to do a lot of prep work before the trip, so I hadn't realized that the Eisenhower National Historic Site is next to Gettysburg NMP and can only be accessed through a paid tour and shuttle bus. One more thing to do when we return.

We stayed at Gettysburg Farm RV park, which is about 20 or so minutes from Gettysburg. Not the closest RV park, but we didn't have to pay to stay there, so we weren't being too picky.

we prefer the old fashioned squished penny machine to the boring one that spits out your pre-pressed penny. though I think this was the most we've paid for a squished penny- usually there 50 cents.

When we bought our RV, a year's membership in Thousand Trails was included, which allows us to stay at certain RV campgrounds for free. We're limited in how long and how often we can stay in those certain campgrounds, but you can upgrade your membership to remove those restrictions. We have several trips planned for the spring and summer to try to take full advantage of the membership benefits, but we won't extend it once the year is up. The membership is a bit pricey for where we are right now, i.e., not traveling full time and tied down by obligations at home. If we had more flexibility to our schedule, I could see it being a valuable option, but we're not there yet.

one of the larger monuments that can be seen along the first part of the auto tour

Like a lot of campgrounds, the spots aren't large, though we've stayed in campgrounds that were more cramped. They had farm animals, a mini golf set-up, a couple playgrounds, and more. The kids were able to do a little exploring, but not nearly as much as they wanted. They're looking forward to returning as well.

sunset from a viewing tower along the first part of the auto tour

the most successful pic of the kiddos, which isn't saying much

Ocean lost interest in the picture and explored the carved stars on the sign instead

Ocean refused to sit on the bench, but these two pics didn't turn out too badly